Mind
Games

This is my attempt a at sequel for the
Fic With No Name, 'cause I didn't really like the ending of the last one that
much.

Chapter One

Bob woke to the sound of cars passing quietly and
birds singing outside. Opening his eyes, he quickly closed them again. Light
was streaming in through his window and it hurt. Bob opened them slowly,
letting them get used to the light. He was lying sprawled out on his stomach in
his bed, the covers wrapped half way around him and his right arm hanging over
the edge. Yawning, he pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the
bed.

It had been five seconds since the system had been
restarted, and Bob was finally getting used to living in Mainframe again. It
had been interesting the way things were turning out with all the changes. Ray
staying in the system, two Enzos, no Megabyte, and most of all, Dot. Bob
grinned and got up, clicking his icon to get dressed in his downloaded armor.
While the war was over now, they had all decided to keep their armor because
they were used to it now.
Still half asleep, he walked into his kitchen and opened the fridge. It was
empty except for an old energy shake. Great Ray. Bob thought. The surfer
had been temporarily living with Bob because he had no place of his own. He was
a slob.I wonder how such a wimpy guy can have such a big appetite. Bob
wondered, staring at his empty fridge and feeling hunger creeping up on him
Bob looked on the couch, but Tracer was gone. He always woke up earlier than
Bob, and usually went to Mouse's, or to teach little Enzo how to surf. The two
were good friends, but not as good as Matrix and Enzo. No one had known what to
expect when the two met, but it went amazingly well, and even AndrAIa was
surprised with the results. The two were always together. Dot on the other hand
was constantly busy with the new changes to the system. It wasn't quite as bad
as it had been the first two seconds, but she was still hard to contact. Even
when it was possible for Bob to get in contact with her, she was usually busy with
Enzo. The day before, Bob hadn't even seen her.

Bob headed to the door, wanting to get something
to eat at Dot's, but a vid window appeared in front of him. Turbo's worried
face looked through. "Bob! We need your help, you have to come to the
Super Computer as fast as possible! Daemon is taking over!"

***

"Are you done yet, Dot?" Dot scowled at
the sound of her friend's muffled voice. "Mouse! You just asked me that!
No, not yet, this place is small." She struggled around to lie on her
back. Dot and Mouse were in the operations room. It was empty except for the
two sprites because Mainframe wasn't at war anymore and they didn't need it.
Dot was squeezed into a small crawl space trying out a suggestion the surfer
had given her. Finishing her work, Dot closed the panel and began to squirm
back out. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic. She mused.
As she slid out, she signalled for Mouse to turn the power back on. Mouse
complied, and went to a workstation. "He was right!" she called out,
a tinge of pride in her voice. "The system is much faster now."

Dot sighed and got up. "One thing done, 43
more to go." Mouse didn't hear her; she was too busy playing with the
upgraded controls. Dot walked into the hall, heading for Phong's office but
stopped when she heard her organizer beep. She had a message. Detaching it from
her hip, she opened it and saw Bob on the other end. "Hi!" she
greeted him, happy for the interruption. Bob didn't greet her back, saying
seriously "Dot, you have to come to my place now." Dot would have
made a joke, but Bob did not look like he was in the mood. "This better be
important-" she was cut off by the Guardian. "It is." he said
gravely. The screen flicked off.

***

There was a small knock on his door, and when he opened it, Dot was
at the door. Bob invited her in trying to fake happiness, but Dot knew him well
enough to know something was wrong. "Bob!" she said, crossing her
arms. "Tell me what's so important." He sighed at sat on his couch,
kicking one of the surfer's cans out of the way. Dot sat beside him, interested
to know what could make him act like this. There was an awkward silence.

"I- " he stopped. Dot took his hand,
wanting him to continue. "I have to go to the Super Computer." Dot
almost sighed in relief. The news wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.
"That's okay." Bob coughed deliberately. "Um, there's more. I
have to go because the remaining Guardians need my help to destroy
Daemon." Dot blinked in surprise. "That's not okay." she said
quietly, frowning. "Dot, I can't help it. I have to help them or Daemon
will take over the Super computer." Inside he too was mad that he had to
go back to the Super computer, but knew this was bigger than him. This would
involve all of the Net and the known Web.
"Fine, but I'm coming with you." Dot said stubbornly. Now it was the
Guardian's turn to frown. "I don't want you to, you should stay here with
your brothers. You are the Command.com, Dot." Dot scowled. "If I hear
that one more time, I'll be sick. I never actually wanted the position."
"What about little Enzo, are you just going to leave him?" Dot shook
her head. "No. He and Matrix have been getting along really well. All Enzo
talks about is Matrix. I could ask him to look after him." Bob ran his
hand through his hair, trying to think of what to do. He had to leave the next
morning, and Dot was the first person he had told. He wouldn't have, but he had
to keep his promise to her. Bob knew she would never except no for an answer,
and neither would he if he were in the same situation.
"Alright." Dot gave Bob a small victorious smile. She never lost, and
she intended to keep it that way.

"Are you going to tell anyone else?" Dot
inquired. Bob got up. "I was going to tell Phong, but no one else. They
would all want to help, and I don't want anyone getting hurt. It's too
dangerous." Dot knew he was right. "Let's go see him then." She
got to her feet and went after Bob.

***

Phong was sitting in his chair typing frantically
away on a keypad when the couple walked in. "Hello my children." He
said, not even looking up from his work. "What can I do for you?" Dot
glanced at Bob, wondering how he was going to explain it. "Phong, we have
some bad news." That caught the his attention, and he looked up.
"Yesterday Turbo contacted me. I have to go to the Super Computer. The
Guardians need any help they can get to fight Daemon before she takes over the
Super Computer." Phong pushed his key pad away. "I see." he
said, obviously deep in thought. "Are you going alone?" Dot spoke up.
"I'm going too." Phong raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Does
Matrix or Mouse know about this?" Bob shook his head negatively. "No,
and we intend to keep it that way."

Phong got up. "I knew it might come to this.
Well, you will need some help, and I have some ideas for you." Dot and Bob
exchanged glances, both wondering what kind of ideas he was talking about. They
followed him to the opps room, where he stopped at a workstation. "If you
are going to go, you need to hide the fact that you are a Guardian, Bob. Give
me your PID." Bob detached the disk and handed it to him. Phong took it
and placed it on the table. Then he began entering codes. Bob watched as his
PID turned from yellow to white, and the edges turned into one of a normal PID.
Now it looked exactly like Dot's. "Now for Glitch." Bob reluctantly
took off the keytool and handed it to Phong. As soon as Glitch had left his
arm, Bob's silver armor morphed into his old Web armor. Dot stared at him,
uncomprehending his new appearance. "Glitch has to be attached for us to
stay downloaded." Bob explained. Dot thought about it. Makes sense.

Phong put Glitch in the same spot, and Dot and Bob
watched in awe as it disappeared from sight. Phong reached out and took what
looked like nothing off the table. "A hidden file command?" Dot asked.
Phong nodded, and put the key tool back on Bob's arm. His armor instantly
turned into the downloaded version. "Thank you." Bob said gratefully.

After a short time planning with the old sprite,
they left. As they flew back to Kits, Bob felt his stomach growl. He hadn't
eaten in nanos. Dot looked at him. "You have to eat you know."
"I know, but Ray ate everything in my apartment." Dot shook her head
in mock pity. "Poor you." Bob grinned and made a grab for her, but
she saw it coming and zipped forwards. Bob didn't count on missing, and lost
his balance, almost falling off. "Where did you learn to board?" Dot
asked sarcastically from in front of him. Bob regained his balance and raced
after her, Dot laughing and flying ahead to his apartment.

When they arrived, they were both out of breath
from chasing each other. Dot heard another message on her organizer, and saw it
was Enzo. Probably wondering where I was all day. "Bob, I have to
go. I'll see you tomorrow." She kissed him goodbye and took off. Bob
watched in regret and went into his apartment.

***

Dot woke to the next morning to her little brother
jumping on her bed. She would have to get used to this again. He tried to say
something, but Dot grabbed him and began wrestling with him. It was an unfair
fight, and Dot won with little effort. Enzo sat on her legs panting. Dot looked
up and cried out in surprise. "Oh yeah, I was gunna tell you. Bob'
here." The Guardian was standing in the doorway watching. He grinned and
shook his head. Things have changed so much. If this was the past, I would
be the late one. Dot vaulted out bed, nearly knocking Enzo off the bed.
"Sorry." she said to both her brother and Bob, rushing past him to
get ready. Enzo hopped off the bed. "Did you have breakfast?" Bob had
forgotten he hadn't. "No, I guess not." Enzo grabbed his hand and
pulled him into the kitchen. Then he bent down into one of the cupboards,
searching for something. "You can have some cereal with me." The
small sprite emerged, pulling out a large box of Frosted Binomes, his favorite.
Enzo had a habit of picking out all the healthy bits and just eating the binome
shaped marshmallows. He pulled out a huge bowl and some milk, and dumped the
milk and cereal together, getting the milk all over the counter. Dot came into the
kitchen ready to go. Seeing the mess, she sighed. "Enzo, you're as bad as
Ray!" He beamed, thinking it was a compliment. Dot didn't have time for
this. "We have to go, but clean it up and Matrix can come over. Maybe
he'll take you somewhere." Enzo instantly grabbed a cloth and began
cleaning up the mess. Bob and Dot left, taking their zipboards to level 31.
They wanted this to be in a secret location, because if the others knew, they
would all want to come.

Upon reaching the dark alley behind Al's, Dot stood
against the wall, watching as Bob formed a portal with his hands. She wanted to
stay so badly, but she couldn't let Bob fight Daemon alone. She would never
forgive herself if something happened to him. At least this way she could try
to help if something went wrong. After a short time, the portal was finished.
He shot her an uncertain look. "Are you sure you want to come?" Dot
nodded confidently. "Definitely."

Dot looked at it, slightly unsure if she wanted to
go through with it. "Ready." asked Bob, knowing she had never been to
the Super Computer before. "Yes." she answered calmly. "Do you
want to go first?" Bob asked. Dot looked at the portal and then back at
Bob. "Could you?" He smiled, "Sure." Dot watched as he
stepped into it, then disappeared. Dot procrastinated. She had never like
traveling by tears, they were too unpredictable. Taking a deep breath, she
stepped through.

Bob was shot through the air and landed hard on
his hands. He got off his hands and knees and dusted himself off. His leg stung
a bit. It had only been a few seconds since Megabyte had sliced him, and the
wound wasn't completely healed. Looking around, he found himself in the middle
of a empty alley. Bob positioned himself under the tear, ready for Dot. There
was a bright flash, and Dot dropped into his arms. He set her down on her feet
and let her get a look at her surroundings. "Nice." she muttered.
Together they left the alley and found themselves on the sidewalk of a busy
street. Huge buildings rose to impossible heights, and gave Dot the feeling she
was totally insignifigant. Dot had never seen anyplace so busy, and instantly
didn't like it. Binomes, sprites and countless other creatures lined the
streets, but to Dot's surprise, it looked very peaceful.

Bob watched the scene, and felt a wave of
nostalgia. It was his first home, and everything seemed familiar. He took her
hand and began leading her down the street. "Do you know where you're
going?" Dot asked, watching as a sprite with six eyes brushed passed. Bob
nodded." Turbo told me where to find him." he said quietly. He didn't
want anyone to hear the Prime Guardian's name. It would give them away for
sure.

Suddenly from somewhere ahead, Bob heard several
blaster shots, and a man's terrified scream. A Guardian pushed through the
crowd, frantically trying to escape. The crowd began to panic and run away into
the alleys for cover as a second Guardian came into view. Bob pulled Dot's
hand, saying "It's probably not a good idea for us to stick around."
He led her around the side of the nearest building and the two watched from the
side of the street as the scene unfolded.

The first man fell to the ground, his hands
landing with a smack on the hard cement. He looked frantically for a place to
hide, but the crowd was gone, and he couldn't blend in anymore. He tried to sit
up, only to see the infected Guardian hovering directly above him.
"Traitor." the Guardian spat from above, and fired his blaster. The
man screamed as his body disintegrated. His PID and keytool dropped on the ground.
The Guardian smiled cruely and stepped off his board. Walking to the spot where
the man had just been , he put his foot down on the PID and twisted, the disk
cracking and splintering to pieces when the pressure was applied. He got back
on his board and took off.

The street was still empty; the inhabitants in
hiding for the moment. Bob looked cautiously around and stepped into the
deserted street. He went to the PID and bent down. As Dot did the same beside
him, he showed her the crumbling yellow and black disk. "He was in my
graduation class." Dot put her hand on his shoulder in sympathy. "I'm
sorry." Bob gave a small, half smile. "It's okay, we were never
friends. Actually, we pretty much hated each other, but even he didn't deserve
that." Dot looked at the keytool. "What did he do wrong?" Bob
shook his head. "He wasn't totally infected yet, and was part of the
Rebellion against Daemon. " Bob sighed, looking at his peer's crushed PID.
The keytool suddenly began making strange noises and spinning rapidly. Dot
stared in shock at it, not because it was moving, but because she could
understand what it was saying. "Guardian 453 has been deleted."

Dot put her hands to her mouth. Bob turned to her,
about to translate what the keytool had said, but she waved her hand to silence
Bob. "I heard it." Bob looked at her in a questioning manner.
"What? That's impossible." Dot carefully picked up the black keytool.
"Though you are not a Guardian, I have chosen you to be my new host. Do
you accept?" Dot raised her eyebrows, not expecting that. "Uh, of
course." The keytool floated up from her hand and flew to her armband,
attaching itself. "My name is Spike." the deep mechanical voice said.
Dot felt a warm feeling inside as the keytool mentally bonded to her.

She stood up slowly, looking at her new companion.
Bob blinked in surprise with an awestruck look on his face. "Dot? A
keytool?" He shook his head, thinking he had fallen a little too hard from
the portal. She smiled at him happily. Bob got up scratching his head. Keytools
have always picked Guardians for hosts. I've never heard of this before. Bob
reached out and hugged her, truly happy, but worried what would happen if she
was mistaken for a Guardian. He pulled away, realizing something. "How
ironic. A Spike is an opposite to a Glitch."
Glitch began speaking, a sound Dot though she would never understand.
"Welcome Dot." The keytool had a calm, pleasant sounding voice.
"Spike is my production brother. He was created a short time after me. I
am older." Dot could have sworn she heard a hint of sibling rivalry in its
voice." Bob smiled at her, sensing the same thing.

The moment was shattered when the binomes and
sprites began coming out of their hiding spots. Bob looked around wearily.
"Come on, we have to find Turbo."

Chapter Two

Bob and Dot stood outside a cemetery, night
falling fast. Dot peered through the rusty fence uncertainly, remembering the
game she had played a while ago in Mainframe. "Here?"
Bob nodded and forced the gate open, which squeaked in protest. They followed a
small gravel path past countless tombstones, some looking new, some like they
had been there for years. The path led to a section of the graveyard which was
in a terrible state of disrepair. A large gray mausoleum stood in the center.
It was a old building, and was very carefully created, with corinthian pillars
and intricate carvings along the top.
Bob strode in through the arched doorway with Dot right behind. It was pitch
black in the small building. Bob held his hand out, a small orb of light
forming in his palm. Unlike the outside, the inside was mostly undecorated and
fairly empty, except for a large stone sarcophagus with a stone slab for a lid.
Bob put his hands against the slab and began shoving. It began sliding away
slowly with a grinding sound. Dot looked at Bob like he had went random. What
does he want with a corpse?Bob pushed the lid far enough for a sprite to
get through, and climbed up on the edge. "Bob, what are you doing?"
He swung his legs into the coffin and cast her a knowing look. Then he slid
down, the darkness engulfing him. Dot rushed to the stone tomb and peered in,
thinking she was going to see a decaying carcass. Instead, she saw Bob about
six feet below, grinning up at her. Dot bit her lip angrily and climbed into
the sarcophagus, jumping down beside him.

He looked around in the light cast by the energy
sphere in his hand. They were in a stone passageway, that looked like a lot of
traffic passed through it recently. Bob stepped forward and began down the
hall. Dot followed reluctantly.

The passage had many twists in it, and at one
point, it split into two. Bob never even hesitated, taking the left one. They
continued a short distance until they passage began to seem lighter. Bob slowed
down as a deep voice called out. "Say the password or you won't live long
enough to wish you had." Bob breathed in, and called out "Free the
Net!"

There was a moment of silence, then two figures
walked into sight. One was a man carrying a large laser rifle. He had orange
skin, and was wearing a standard Guardian uniform. He had been the one to call
out. There was something strange and cold about him, and he glared at them like
they were traitors.
The female sprite that stood before them was fairly plain looking, but carried
herself with confidence. Her skin was a dark blue, almost black, and her eyes
were the total opposite, a light aqua colour. The contrasting colours made for
an interesting effect. Her purple hair hung in layers around her face. She wore
a simple white tank top that tied up in the front, but the strings hung loose
on the top. On her legs she wore black pants with boots similar to Dot's own.
Attached at her hip were three ninja stars, her apparent weapon of choice. Like
Dot, she had a tattoo. Hers was a frighteningly realistic web creature coiled
around her upper arm. Unlike Dot, she also had a silver loop pierced through
her eyebrow. Dot cringed, wondering why anyone would ever want to do that to
themselves. Her gold and black PID was attached on her belt.
She extended her hand towards Bob. "Hello, this is Res. My name's Vector.
You must be Guardian 452. And this is..." she motioned to Dot.
"I'm Dot Matrix of Mainframe." The woman smiled and reached out to
shake Dot's hand.
"Sorry about the welcome, but we have to have tight security down
here." Vector waved her hand and the man went back to his post. "We
don't call ourselves Guardians anymore, we're called the 'Defenders'. It comes
from To Mend And Defend. Not that that phrase has much meaning around here
anymore."

She led them through a large open metal door into
a large rectangular room made out of the same stone as the halls. A few
Defenders were talking with each other, but other than that the room was
basicly empty. Dot glanced around.
"Where exactly is 'here'?" Vector grinned, slightly amused. Dot
couldn't see what was so funny, and she wasn't sure whether she liked the woman
or not.
"He didn't tell you?" Dot shook her head, giving Bob a sideways
glance.
"This is where all the Guardians who are opposed to Daemon's control stay.
We have to stay down here, if we're found, we'll be deleted on the spot. We're
all infected, but we can all fight it. For the moment." She pointed to the
infection that glowed on her temples. She then turned to Bob. "Turbo will
be back soon. For now he assigned me to show you around. He's very fond of you,
452."
Bob smiled. "Just Bob." Vector smiled back, "Alright. You don't
have to call me Vector, everyone around here just calls me Tor." Dot
raised her eyebrows. That would certainly take some getting used to. "Let
me show you the place."

Tor led them into another side hallway left of the
main room with many doors along the right side. "These are the living
chambers. They're small, but it's all we need. We don't spend much time in them
anyway." The blue skinned sprite pushed open one of the doors, ushering
them inside.

The room was small. In fact, it was tiny.
It contained a twin bed with normal blue energy covers on it, a small light
attached to the wall above it, and a small table. There was maybe two feet
between the wall and the bed.

"This is where you'll be staying. Sorry about
the accommodations, but we were just expecting one sprite." Dot felt
guilty, hoping she wasn't dragging Bob down. "If we switch some of the
arrangements around, I'm sure we can get you your own room." Dot quickly
shook her head, not wanting Tor to change the whole place around for her.
"It's okay. I can stay here." Tor raised an eyebrow, amused. "If
you're sure." Dot nodded. As they left the room, Bob looked at Dot,
smiling. "Don't get any ideas." she said brushing past him.

They left the living area and Tor continued the
tour down the hall, leading them to a room far from the others at the very end.
They entered and found themselves in a small room, moisture hung in the air.
The stone floor dropped off, and the rest of the floor was energy. "This
is the poolroom. If you ever want to get clean after a game, or just swim
around, this is the place."
Tor left, this time taking them to the right side of the main room. Going under
a large stone arch she showed them another large room with a high ceiling, this
one filled with tables. "This is where we eat. Not the best food in the
Super Computer, but better than the stuff in the prisons."

"Bob!" came a voice from behind them.
The group turned to see Turbo entering with two other Guardians. The older man
grabbed Bob by the shoulders, overjoyed. "You finally got back from the
Web! For a while we thought you were deleted. It's such a relief to know you're
safe!"

Tor came up behind Dot. "I think they have
some stuff to do. Let's get out of here, the boys might be awhile. If you want
I can show you around the Super Computer." Dot smiled. She was beginning
to get over her distrust of the sprite. "Sure. Just give me a couple
mills."

The two sprites walked in silence down the long,
dark hallway. "So, where exactly does that other passage go? The one on
the right when you come down here." Dot asked. Tor continued walking.
"I'll show you when we get there."

When Tor reached the fork, she turned down the
othe passage, Dot doing the same. The Defender walked slowly foward, then
stopped. Dot looked at her questioningly. Tor just grinned, saying "Path,
light." A narrow beam of light from the keytool lit up the small tunnel,
revealing a spot about foot away, where the floor just dropped off. Dot edged
forward and peered in, gasping. Below her, she could see a room with large
spikes jutting up from the floor about a foot and a half apart. "This is
what we call the Oublier. It's a trap for outsiders that chose the wrong
passage. Those that aren't luckly enough to fall on the spikes starve to
death."

Dot stepped back carefully. She had been around
Cecil long enough to pick up a bit of his strange dialogue. "Doesn't that
mean to 'forget'. Tor nodded. "You're good. Yes, that's what it means. We
like to forget about them." Vector moved her arm, the light now shinning
on an old, decayed skeleton. Tor looked at her seriously. "Don't forget
which path to take." Dot shook her head, and followed Tor soberly down the
passage.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, Dot found herself looking up at the
inside of the tomb. Stone indents were carved roughly in the wall, forming a
ladder to the lid. Tor climbed to the top and shoved on the bottom of the stone
lid. It slid away slowly, light penatrating the dark room.
When the two sprites had climbed out of the sarcohgagus, Tor turned to Dot. She
pressed her icon, which changed her outfit to a white tube top and metallic
pants. "We change our clothes every time we go to the surface." she
said, tying her hair up. "This way, people will be less likely to
recognize us. You too should change." Dot looked at her grey armor.
"To what?" Vector shruged. "Anything." Dot paused for a
moment, then clicked on her icon, letting the green light encircle her. When it
dissipated, she was wearing a white halter top and plain black pants.
"Nice choice." Tor commented, giving her a thumbs up.

15 milliseconds later, Dot found herself standing
on a busy sidewalk in the heart of the immense city. "What would you like
to do?" Tor said, almost shouting over the sound of the cars and people.
Dot had never been to the Super Computer, so she didn't have any idea what she
wanted to do.
At that moment, the sky faded from blue, to a dark crimson in colour.

WARNING INCOMING GAME

a deep voice announced over the entire system. "I have an idea," Tor
said as she pointed at the descending game.

When the game landed around them, Dot looked
around at their location. They appeared to be standing in the middle of a large
room with Myan carvings covering the walls, and vines growing on the ground.
Tor grumbled from beside her. "Which game are we in, Tor?" Dot
inquired, wanting to know the reason for Tor's complaining. She sighed.
"Welcome to the wonderful world of Lara Croft, the most scantily clad
archeologist in the game world." Dot raised her eyebrows, slightly amused
at her sarcasticness. "Well, let's get this over with before we run into
an infected Guardian. They aren't particullarly nice people." The familiar
green cylinder envelopped them, and Dot discovered she was no longer in sprite
form, but in the body of a wolf. Tor looked exactly like her, except for Path,
who was somehow attached to her canine leg. "Let's find some cover before
she gets here." Almost simoutaniously, the User entered through the
nearest door. She was a tall woman with brown hair in a pinned up braid, and
was wearing khaki shorts, a blue-green tank top, and a ludicrously small
backpack. Two pistols hung from her sides.

From behind the chunk of ruin which the two had
taken cover behind, Dot looked at Tor with a inquiring look. "Guy Users
invented this game." Dot nodded, understanding. "Figures." Dot
heared a wolfish chuckle at her statement. "Maybe we can end this game
quickly. When she walks by, just jump out and try to take her down. Watch out
for the pistols, though. She can be pretty fast." As if to demonstrate her
skills, the User did a back flip, and shot an incomming bat from the ceiling. Bob
was right. Games are faster in the Super Computer. Dot thought to herself.
"Show off." was Tor's placid response. Now it was Dot's turn to
laugh.
The User neared them, looking around cautiously. Obviously not cautiously
enough, because she came too close to the rock, and Tor leapt from behind it
with amazing speed. Dot growled and followed, lunging for her throat. Her jaws
locked around the woman's neck, and she gave a strangled scream. Lara attempted
to throw the two wolves off, but she was pinned. Dot only released her grip
when she felt the User grow limp. "Great job, Dot!" Tor barked
happily, stepping away from the corpse.

GAME OVER

The game ascended, and again they were on the busy
street. Binomes and sprites rushed everywhere, acting like nothing had just
happened, or not caring.
Tor turned to her, smirking with anticipation. "Thirsty?"

Turbo pulled out a vid window with a large map of
the Principal Office and laid it on the floor. "This is the only remaining
map of the P.O because Daemon tried to destroy them all when she took over. We
had to steal this one from her." Bob peered at it, remembering the layout
from his past when he had been taught at the Guardian Academy, which was
located in the building. Turbo stood with his arms crossed, looking at the
Defenders that surrounded him. "Our job is to find some way in so we can
get rid of the Virus once and for all. We need to make a plan." Bob smiled
ironicly. Dot should be here, she would love this. I wonder where she is,
anyway?

Dot walked across the loud, smokey room, wondering
why she was there. Tor had taken her down one of the side allies and to a door
saying, "I was supposed to do a little scouting before I learned you two
were comming. Would you like to help me get some info?" Dot, of course,
had agreed, but she didn't know what Tor had meant by it. Now she did.
Tor walked up the the bar and sat down on a vacant stool. Next to her a binome
was passed out in his chair. Tor gave him a shove, and he toppled out and onto
the floor. "Have a seat." she said. Dot stepped over the body and sat
down, looking around. The bar was filled with all sorts of rough binomes and
sprites, some who looked like they would kill you if you even looked at them.
"Hey ladies. Like a drink?" Dot turned back at the sound of the
bartender's deep voice. He was a tall, muscular sprite with several tatoos on
his arms, and one above his eye. He looked directly at Dot. "An IO."
Tor looked at her with admiration. "I'll have one too." He nodded and
went to get their drinks. " You don't seem like the kind of girl who likes
that kind of thing." Dot smiled. Actually, she had always liked them. She
had been surprised when she learned that it was Matirx's favorite drink.
"Hard liquor must run in the family." Mouse had joked.

When the drinks came back, Tor started a
conversation about Mainframe. Dot was about to explain about Megabyte, when two
men came up behind them. "So. What are two beautiful girls like you doing
here?" Dot and Tor looked at the men. The man who had spoken was tall with
grey skin and green eyes. He was wearing what looked like a modified version of
the standard Guardian uniform, and had short black hair. "Who wants to
know?" Tor asked, looking him over.
He smiled. "The name's Bryce, and this," he jerked his thumb in the
direction of his friend, "Is Link."

The other man was a bit shorter, but had a bigger
build. He had light red skin and blue eyes. He flashed a broad grin at Dot, who
smiled a little, not liking the man, but playing along. "How would you
like to join us at the back?" Dot was sure Vector would decline, but
instead she looked at him and said, "Sure just let us finish our
drinks." Tor put the small glass to her mouth and finished off the drink
in two swallows. Dot did her one better by polishing it of in one. "She's
good." Link said, speaking for the first time. Dot passed him a smile as
she followed Tor to the back of the room. I wonder what Bob would think of
this? she thought, wondering if he would be jealous.
They came to a booth in a dark coner where Bryce slid in, making room for Tor.
Link motioned for her to go first. She did, but Dot didn't like the fact that
she was now pinned between the two men. Link took a swig of from his bottle, Dot
noticing that he didn't exactly look too sober. "So ladies, and you two
new to the Super Computer? I haven't seen you around here before." The
last few words of Bryce's sentence were slurred. Tor played along. "Yes,
we just got here. You boys wouldn't mind answering a few questions for us,
would you?" Bryce shook his head. "Ask away."

Tor started off with simple questions, but as the
night grew later, the men just got more and more plastered, and Dot and Vector
were able to get quite a lot of information about the Guardians from them.
There was a loud thump as Link fell unconscious and his head hit the table. Dot
tried hard not to laugh.
"Well, sorry fellas but we've got to go." Bryce didn't even notice as
Tor pushed him out of the way to get out. "Bye boys!" Dot said,
blowing them a kiss. Bryce tried to catch it, but was too drunk and fell over.
Tor laughed happily, and they ran out of the bar, leaving the Guardians in
their drunked stupor.

"That was great Dot! I got all the
information I needed. Thanks for putting up with that." She just grinned.
"I'm whipped. Let's get back to the base before Turbo finds out where I
took you."

Dot had had fun, but she was happy when she walked
through the main doors in the Defender base. Bob, Turbo and several other Defenders
were seated on the floor around a collection of blueprints, plan and
strategies. "Where you two?" Bob asked, seeing that Dot was wearing
something different. "Hitting on Guardians." Dot answered in an
uncaring tone, only wanting to get to their room and get some much-needed
sleep. "That's nice." Turbo said calmly, used to Tor's ways. Bob went
back to planning the attack, his head bent over the vid window. Suddenly the
full extent of her words hit him, and he jerked his head up. "What!"
Jumping to his feet, he ran out of the room after her, Turbo grinning at the
younger man's reaction.

Dot put her hands on the door and was about to
push it open, when she heard footsteps behind her. "Dot!" Bob slid to
a stop right beside her. "What exactly did you mean by that?" She
smiled, unused to seeing him jealous. "Don't worry, Bob. We just did it to
get some information about Daemon from them. They were drunk anyways." She
kissed him and went into the room, leaving him out in the hall. And thatís
supposed to make me feel better?

Dot didn't even bother to change. She just pulled
back the covers and crawled under them, grateful to be horizontal. In a matter
of moments, she was fast asleep.